enoxtitlan
was the Indian name for Mexico city, but there also was another Tenoxtitlan,
a Mexican town established in present Burleson County in 1830, which was
twice proposed as the capital of Texas.

In the 1820's, when Mexico finally won independence from Spain, it found
itself the owner of a vast, sparsely settled northern frontier. To settle
that area, the State of Coahuila and Texas in 1825 passed a liberal colonization
law, the first article of which said:

"All foreigners who . . . wish to emigrate to
any of the settlements of the State of Coahuila and Texas, are permitted
to do so; and the said State invites and calls them."1

Settlers from the United States poured into Texas in such great numbers
that they soon began to outnumber the Mexicans. By 1830, the Mexican government
had become so worried over the trend that it passed a law to stop the flood
of emigration from the United States.2
Enforcement of that law was placed in the hands of General Manuel de Mier
y Teran, who launched a grandiose project to "Mexicanize" Texas by erecting
a line of forts garrisoned by Mexican troops, surrounded by Mexican settlers,
and bearing names which had been popular among the Indians even before
the Spaniards arrived--names like Anahuac, Lipantitlan, and Tenoxtitlan.

General Mier y Teran issued an order on April 24, 1830, providing for the establishment
of a fort at the point where the road from Bexar (or San Antonio) crossed
the Brazos River on the way to Nacogdoches [SEE MAP].
It was to be garrisoned by the Alamo Cavalry Company under the command of
Lieutenant Colonel Francisco
Ruiz, a native of Bexar.3

The Ruiz expedition set out from Bexar on June 25, 1830,4
and reached the banks of the Brazos on July 13. It consisted of 100 men,
12 pack loads of supplies, 3 yokes of oxen, and a new oxcart. In the cart
were a blacksmith's forge, a cannon, and the accompanying ammunition. Colonel
Ruiz established temporary headquarters on the east bank of the Brazos
about half a mile below the Bexar-Nacogdoches Road.5

On July 16, 1830, General Mier y Teran named the new post "Tenoxtitlan."
6 There was
no written accent on the a, so, according to the modern Spanish rules of
pronunciation, the word would be stressed on the next-to-last syllable:
Te-nox-tí-tlan. That was the original Indian word used to
describe Mexico City when it was founded about the year 1300, for the Indians
had been told to wander until they found an eagle perched on a prickly
pear devouring a serpent. When they did, they called the site Tenochtitlan,
or "Prickly Pear Place." In the documents describing the conquest of Mexico
from 1519 to 1521, the word frequently appears spelled Tenochtitlan, with
an accent on the a, and therefore would have been pronounced Te-noch-ti-tlán,
with the main stress on the last syllable, and a secondary stress on noch.
Colonel Ruiz liked the name so well that he had it repeated to his troops
on three successive days.7

The Mexicans at the post probably pronounced it Ten-ock-ti-tlan,
but, when the Anglo-American settlers arrived from the United States, they
had a tendency to move the stressed syllable back toward the beginning
of words. Thus they called it Ten-ockti-tlan, and the place where
the road crossed the river became known as "the old Tenock Crossing."8

The first duty assigned to the new garrison was the escorting of military
funds en route from Bexar to Nacogdoches. The escort was to receive the
money from the Bexar troops when they arrived at Tenoxtitlan and carry
it east under guard to the Trinity River, where it would be turned over
to the soldiers who had come out from Nacogdoches.9

The extreme importance which Mier y Teran attached to Tenoxtitlan is
revealed in a letter he wrote to the Mexican secretary of state on July
31, 1830, saying:

I have had the name of Tenoxtitlan given to the
central point on the Brazos River, which divides the distance between Nacogdoches
and Bexar on what they call the Upper Road. It is extremely important that
it be settled in order to keep Texas in subjection, and it is very well
suited for Mexican colonists because the land is adequate for farming and
ranching.... In my opinion this point, if it is developed, will in time
become the capital of all Texas. The transfer of the five hundred families
proposed by Don Victor Blanco ... would completely change the situation
of that Department, for the troops would have that point as a stronghold
which could be made impregnable to attack by the North Americans.10

The general was using the term "North Americans" in its broadest sense,
for he was concerned with the westward migration of the United States Indians
as well as the white settlers. He wanted to make Tenoxtitlan a cavalry
post of at least four hundred men who, aided by friendly Texas Indians,
would maintain a constant patrol of the northeastern frontier. 11

From the middle of July, Colonel Ruiz had been hacking his way through
the dense Brazos River bottom in search of a permanent site for his fort.
Finally he found one which, to use his own words, was located "six leagues
to the west of the Upper Crossing of the Brazos River.'' 12
That actually meant, however, that the new site was six leagues up the
river, since a letter written a few days later noted that there was a river
crossing directly in front of the new site. 13

Mary Austin Holley, in her book on Texas published in 1836, says that
it was on the right, or west, bank of the Brazos, twelve miles above the
Upper Road leading from Bexar to Nacogdoches, fifteen miles below the mouth
of the San Andres, or Little, River, and one hundred miles above San Felipe
de Austin. 14
One of the chief attractions of the site was an abundance of good drinking
water. The detachment moved to the permanent site on October 17, l830,
15 and a Mexican
garrison was maintained there until August 22, 1832, or a little less than
two years.

Mier y Teran had given detailed instructions for the founding of his
dream capital of Texas. Alférez Santiago Navayra was to be in charge
of construction. The fort itself was supposed to have been built of stone
and mortar, but Ruiz replied that it would have to be made of lumber, since
stone and mortar were not available. The fort was to be built on the west
bank of the river where it would dominate the crossing, and the troops
were to start work immediately cutting approaches east and west through
the wilderness s as to bring the Bexar-Nacogdoches Road across the Brazos
at that point. 16

Those provisions for connecting the fort with the surrounding country
were supplemented by the ayuntamiento of San Felipe, the capital
of Austin's Colony down
the river. In its meeting of December 31, 1830, the members appointed Abner
Lee, John P. Coles, Nestor Clay, John Cole, and George Erving to lay out
a road from the home of Joel Laky to the garrison on the Brazos. 17

Mier y Teran also had ordered that all brush be removed from the area
surrounding Fort Tenoxtitlan, to a distance of 400 varas (about 1100 feet),
and that no houses be built within that zone because they would interfere
with the effective use of firearms. The fort itself was to be a veritable
citadel. The general even drew a floor plan for it, made a model, and forwarded
both from his headquarters in Matamoros to Colonel Ruiz in Tenoxtitlan.
They were carefully packed in a little wooden box, but they went astray
somewhere after they passed through Bexar and never reached their destination.18

Fort Tenoxtitlan had been in existence only one week when seven Tennesseans
rode into town and asked to see Colonel Ruiz. Their leader, a stocky individual
with sandy hair and silver spurs, introduced himself as Major Sterling
C. Robertson, agent of the Texas Association. Displaying a colonization
contract which the association had made with the State of Coahuila and
Texas, Major Robertson announced that he had come to explore the country
and select the site for a permanent settlement. 19

The primary purpose of Fort Tenoxtitlan, of course, was to stop the
immigration of Anglo-Americans into Mexican territory, but Colonel Ruiz
was a native Texan, and he had his own ideas about what Texas needed. As
he expressed it, ". . . I cannot help seeing the advantages which, to my
way of thinking, would result if we admitted honest, hard-working people,
regardless of what country they come from, . . even hell itself."20

Besides, he liked the Tennesseans, especially after Dr. Thomas J. Wootton,
a member of the party, had cured several of his sick soldiers without charging
them anything. The Mexicans and the Tennesseans got along harmoniously
together, despite the fact that no one in the entire garrison could speak
English, and the foreigners knew no Spanish. Ruiz wanted to let them stay,
but the law was not clear concerning already existing contracts which were
in the process of completion, so he wrote his superior officer for instructions.
2l

While the colonel was waiting for a reply, the caravan of fifty immigrants
which had been following Major Robertson finally arrived at the Brazos
on November 12, 1830, and turned its covered wagons off the Bexar-Nacogdoches
Road to camp down the river in the temporary structures which the Mexican
garrison had recently abandoned. Early the next morning Major Robertson
rode up to Tenoxtitlan, filed with Colonel Ruiz a formal report on the
status of his colonization project, and asked for permission to settle
the families in the colony. 22

That request set off a chain reaction of official correspondence which
produced repercussions in cities as far distant as Matamoros and Leona
Vicario (as Saltillo was then called). Three months later the answer came
booming back:

Give orders to the effect that neither Sterling
Robertson nor any other North American family shall be allowed to settle
in Tenoxtitlan. ... 23

... Turn them over to the Military Commandant of the Town
of Nacogdoches so that he may transport them without fail to the other
side of the Sabine. . .24

To those peremptory commands Ruiz blandly replied that the families had
never actually reached his post, that he had no idea where they were, and
that the horses at his garrison were in such a "fatal" condition that it
would be useless to try to find the immigrants. 25

Apparently, the fifty immigrants were never rounded up and escorted
beyond the Sabine. They lived for a time in the former Mexican quarters
on the Brazos and then moved to permanent homes in other parts of Texas.
The heads of families included:

Mier y Teran had instructed Colonel Ruiz to be extremely careful to
see that his troops got along with the Anglo-Americans. He was also to
see that the Mexican soldiers did not provoke the Indians. In fact, any
friendly Indians who came to the fort were to be entertained at government
expense. The general had done what he could to forestall the three-way
friction which was bound to develop between the Mexicans, the Anglo-Americans,
and the Indians, but keeping the peace was a two-sided proposition, as
Colonel Ruiz was soon to discover.

Hardly had the soldiers moved into their permanent barracks when an
Anglo-American named Cooper drew a fine bead on a friendly Kicha brave
and shot off his thumb. Ruiz, adhering strictly to his instructions, did
not intervene in that incident or in others of a similar nature which soon
followed. 27

Eventually, however, the friction increased to such an extent that the
settlers took matters into their own hands and meted out a swift frontier
justice according to their own concepts of right and wrong, with no respect
for "border nor breed nor birth."

In one instance a young man named H. Reed was on his way from Tenoxtitlan
to his father's home on Little River when he was murdered by a band of
eight Waco Indians. His body was found the next day by a friendly hunting
party consisting of two Mexicans, two Delaware Indians, two Anadarkos,
and to Caddos. Chief Canoma, one of the Caddos, immediately led the party
in pursuit of the murderers. They killed five of the fugitives and brought
in the scalps of two, apologizing that the other three had sunk in Little
River, where, unfortunately, their scalps were irretrievable. They also
recovered Reed's horse and saddle and turned them over to his father. Thus
the Mexicans and Indians joined forces to avenge the death of an Anglo-American.
28

Another case involved one John Williams, locally known as "the famous
drinker," which was no small distinction in those days. He came careening
into Tenoxtitlan on horseback with a pistol in his belt, and, after rearing
and plunging in all directions, attempted to shoot a peaceful Choctaw,
who took out through the brush for parts unknown. A group of indignant
Anglo-Americans set out in pursuit of Williams, tied him hand and foot,
and sent him down to San Felipe for trial. Thus a group of whites sided
against another white to protect a helpless Indian. 29
Justice--not race, color, or creed--was the important thing in those days.

The official ban against Anglo-Americans was not rigidly enforced in
Tenoxtitlan, for Francis Smith was operating a general merchandise store
there as early as July, 1831.30
His goods came from Cincinnati and New Orleans to the firm of A. G. and
R. Mills in Brazoria, and from there were transported overland up the Brazos
to Tenoxtitlan. At first they were carried over the last lap by pack horses
or oxcarts, but by March, 1832, Smith had saved enough money to order "a
first rate large ox waggon for the road with an English bed well turned
up before" and tires at least two inches wide, to support heavy loads through
the Brazos River bottoms.

Smith was making so much money that he literally did not know what to
do with it. He estimated that $40,000 worth of Indian produce could be
taken in during the following year, provided he could lay in a sufficient
supply of Indian goods to trade for it. His problem was how to get his
money down to Brazoria to pay for new goods. He could not afford to close
his store and make the trip himself, since he was the only merchant in
town who had anything to sell of consequence, and transportation was so
uncertain that he did not dare send his money by anyone else.

By "Indian produce" Smith meant furs. The Cherokees, Shawnees, Delawares,
and Kickapoos had had an extremely successful season at trapping beaver
that winter. The extent of the territory served by Smith's store and the
drawing power of his merchandise are indicated by the fact that a French
Indian trader brought in eighty buffalo robes and offered them to him at
5.25 apiece. He had been offered $5.50 elsewhere, but he liked Smith's
goods best.

Besides beaver pelts and buffalo robes, Smith traded for beef hides,
deer skins, and some leopard pelts. In return, Smith supplied the Indians,
Mexicans, Anglo-Americans, and Negroes of the community with such hunting
equipment as beaver traps, tomahawks, rifles, fire steels, large fishhooks,
pocket knives, and spurs. Among his tools he carried gimlets, axes, 4-inch
and 5 l/2
inch augers, and straight awls. For the dining room he had small, deep
plates, tin cups and pans, and "fine bowls & pitchers with red flower
on the side." There were also brass kettles for the kitchen.

In his grocery department he carried sugar, coffee, rice, raisins, almonds,
aniseed, flour, molasses, soap, sperm candles, and whiskey. The most popular
drygoods were 3/4 and 4/4
white domestic, black silk handkerchiefs, French or Mackinaw blankets,
small-check calico of yellow and other colors, open-ended thimbles, flax
thread, men's cotton socks both white and colored, "strong negro shoes,"
and ladies' shoes with round toes and high heels.

Nor was Storekeeper Smith content to cater merely to the immediate physical
needs of his customers: he had something nobler in view, as was indicated
by an order for "iron and brass jew's harps." The fine arts were finding
their way into the wilderness.

Smith had his troubles, though, even if he did consider himself on the
edge of a virgin territory where there were "thousands of fortunes" yet
unmade. For instance, he had opened up with a good stock of sour wine for
the Indian trade, but, no matter how many times he sold it, the red men
always brought it back, demanding sweet wine instead. The traditional taste
for firewater was becoming more discriminating.

On the other hand, when he tried to dispose of a barrel of fine tobacco,
the Indians would have none of it, not even as a gift. They wanted cheap
tobacco in boxes. He also tried to sell them some common strouding, but
they would have nothing but good quality broadcloth.

The worst tragedy, though, occurred in the shoe department. The gentlemen
in Brazoria had supplied him with eighteen pairs of prunella shoes, but
nobody would buy them because they had square toes and no heels. He returned
all but six pairs with the pessimistic comment that even this small quantity
"may last me 17 years if I take good care of them.'' 3l

Meanwhile what had become of General Mier y Teran's gigantic project
for the Mexicanization of Texas? The only response to his plan for transporting
Mexicans from the interior of his country at government expense and settling
them in the wilderness of Texas was one casual inquiry from a schoolmaster
in Tula.

The general became so despondent over the failure of his project that
on the morning of July 3, 1832, he donned his full dress uniform with all
his medals, went off to a secluded spot, and hurled himself upon the point
of his sword. His dying thought was: "What will become of Texas?" 32

The news of the general's suicide was extremely demoralizing for Colonel
Ruiz. As a matter of fact, the colonel had become more and more disillusioned
ever since he established Tenoxtitlan. Only a few weeks after he founded
the fort, he wrote to a friend saying:

I am already tired of my post after such a short
time. I do not think that I shall last very long here. I realize that it
would be better for me to get out of the army because I am not the type
to command in such calamitous times.... We are already running short of
soldiers, and soon the supplies will begin to play out. I cannot find words
to describe the present condition of my garrison. Suffice it to say that
my lot is a very sad one, and I do not know what will become of this establishment.
Only time will tell. 33

The garrison did run out of supplies shortly thereafter, and Colonel Ruiz
was forced to send his men out to forage for themselves. When trouble between
Anglo-American settlers and Mexican soldiers broke out at Anahuac in the
summer of 1832, the commander there called upon Ruiz for reinforcements,
but the colonel replied that he could not send any help because eighteen
of his men were out trying to find something to eat. 34

When Mier y Teran committed suicide, the entire plan for keeping Anglo-Americans
out of Texas collapsed. A few weeks later, on August 22, 1832, the Mexican
garrison--in fact, the entire Mexican population--abandoned Tenoxtitlan
and returned to Bexar. The melancholy cavalcade moved slowly, for Colonel
Ruiz was a sick man. After two years on the northern frontier, he finally
knew what would become of his establishment at Tenoxtitlan. Time had told.
35

Tenoxtitlan did not fare too well after the Mexican troops abandoned
it in the summer of 1832. Francis White Johnson, principal surveyor of
Austin's Colony, went to Tenoxtitlan in the late fall of that year, 36
but by December only a handful of white settlers remained in the community.
Those were Radford Berry, John R. Craddock, Joseph L. Hood, Francis Smith,
William H. Smith, and John Teal. 37

The outlook became more cheerful, though, when Spencer H. Jack opened
his land office there in the spring of 1834. He was acting as agent for
Austin and Williams in the colonization contract which they had obtained
on February 2, l83l. 38
Since tile Austin and Williams contract embraced Austin's previous colony
below the San Antonio Road, plus some additional territory above the road,
including what previously had been known variously as the Texas Association,
Leftwich's Grant, or the Nashville Colony, the area above the road was
referred to under the new arrangement as the Upper Colony.

For three years the land matters pertaining to the Upper Colony, including
Tenoxtitlan, were handled in the home of Samuel M. Williams in San Felipe,
39 but in 1834
Austin and Williams sent Spencer H. Jack to open a land office in Tenoxtitlan.
Since the chief business to be transacted in a colony was the reception
of colonists and issuance of land titles, the capital was considered to
be that town which contained the land office. Thus, with the arrival of
Spencer H. Jack, Tenoxtitlan became the capital of the Upper Colony.

Twenty-six heads of families, representing a total of ninety-five persons,
filled out the printed applications for admission to the Austin and Williams
Colony in Tenoxtitlan between April 21 and June 15, 1834. The names of
those applicants and their families, with their ages and date of application,
were:

After each settler had filed his application, Jack gave him a printed
form certifying that a land title would be issued to him as soon as a commissioner
had been appointed by the government. Unfortunately, however, none of the
settlers received land titles from Austin and Williams at that time because
they did not succeed in getting a land commissioner appointed before the
colony was transferred to Major Sterling C. Robertson. That change was
effected on May 22, 1834, just a month after Jack had opened his land office.
41

Robert Barr and a man named Mumford were also living in Tenoxtitlan
in April, 1834, but their applications for admission have not been found.
42 Also George
Bernard Erath, John W. Porter, and Porter's family moved to Tenoxtitlan
in August, 1834. In his memoirs Erath says:

When I arrived there about half a dozen Mexican
families occupied the place. Some of them considered themselves settled
and claimed land in the neighborhood. About half a dozen American families
were there also. They sheltered themselves in the Mexican barracks while
waiting for something to turn up. 43

The Catholic religion probably predominated in Tenoxtitlan between 1830
and 1832, since most of the inhabitants at that time were Mexicans and
also because the Mexican government required that only Catholics be brought
to Texas. But it is likely that protestant beliefs were practiced more
openly after the Mexican officials departed. Among the applicants for admission
was the Reverend Peter Hunter Fullinwider, a native of Pennsylvania who
had spent two and a half years in the Princeton Theological Seminary training
for the Presbyterian ministry. After receiving his license to preach, he
moved to Mississippi and married Balinda McNair on March 18, 1834. They
were still on their honeymoon when they made their appearance at Tenoxtitlan,
fired with missionary zeal to distribute Bibles and preach the gospel.
Reverend Fullinwider had the distinction of being the first Presbyterian
minister to reside in Texas. 44

Another important name among the settlers at Tenoxtitlan was James Gibson
Swisher, for whom Swisher County was named. A native of Knoxville, Tennessee,
he arrived in Tenoxtitlan with his family in January, 1834, and rented
the residence formerly occupied by Colonel Ruiz. 45

At that time Tenoxtitlan was on the extreme northwestern frontier of
Texas, with no facilities for educating the numerous children of the settlers.
Swisher, motivated partly by a desire to help his neighbors' children and
partly by a desire to keep his own boy busy, decided to establish his fourteen-year-old
son, John Milton Swisher, as the teacher of a private school. When the
school opened, there were several pupils ranging from six to twenty years
of age, not one of whom knew a letter of the alphabet. In fact, most of
them did not even know that an alphabet existed. In later years, Milton's
wife, Mrs. Bella French Swisher, recalled that:

The opening morning was a proud one to Milton.
He felt ten years older and a foot taller, while in importance he was swelled
to a prodigious size. He put on his hat with all the grace of a newly-pledged
lover and, taking his ruler and some books, he started forth to his duties
fully convinced that his fame as a pedagogue would be world-wide in a very
short time. His pupils came straggling in, one by one, either saluting
him with some of the slang terms of the day, or winking knowingly at him,
as if to say, "You think you're mighty smart, don't you?" But, though his
heart seemed to be in his throat, the young teacher preserved his dignity
and made an attempt to call his class to order, which, as none of them
knew the meaning of the word, was no easy task. He finally made them understand
that they were to be seated and keep silence. The boys with a whoop sprang
astride some of the logs which had been brought in to serve in the place
of seats while the girls appropriated other logs and arranged themselves
around in various uncouth positions, all eyes fixed upon the teacher as
if to demand what was to be done next.

"Now," said the teacher who did not know the full extent
of his pupils' ignorance, "I will form an a-b-c class. All who don't know
their a b c's stand up."

The next instant the entire school was standing.... After
arranging them in line, big and little together, much to the disgust of
the former, he proceeded to give them their first lesson.

"That letter," he explained, "is A."

"What's it used for?" asked one of the young men.

"It is one of the letters of the alphabet. There are twenty-six
of them for you to learn. When you know them all you will easily learn
to read."

"Read what?" was the next question.

"Why, anything you can get to read."

"What is it to read?" asked another.

"Look at this letter," was the reply. "It is b, here is
o and here is v. B-o-y boy. Whenever you see these three letters you will
know it is boy."

"I know an easier way to tell a boy than that," said the
first speaker.

Five of the fifty-nine men who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence
were either residents or former residents of Tenoxtitlan: George W. Barnett,
John S. D. Byron, Sterling C. Robertson, Francisco Ruiz, and James G. Swisher.
47 Tenoxtitlan
had its martyr in the Alamo, too, in Eliel Melton, a bachelor who had come
to Texas in 1829 and to Tenoxtitlan community by 1832.48
Seven residents or former residents also took part in the Battle of San
Jacinto: Robert Barr, John R. Craddock, John Graham, George W. Robinson,
William H. Smith, William L. Swain, and John M. Swisher. 49

After the fall of the Alamo, a rumor spread up the Brazos that the Mexican
army was headed for Viesca at the falls of the Brazos above Tenoxtitlan
to capture Major Sterling C. Robertson, empresario of Robertson's Colony,
and that, simultaneously, great hordes of hostile Indians, incited by the
Mexican government, were going to swoop down from the northwest and annihilate
all the white settlers on the frontier around Tenoxtitlan. The panic-stricken
settlers began a wholesale migration east toward the Sabine. Some of the
families struck out across country from Viesca to Fort Parker on the Navasota,
while the young men assembled at Tenoxtitlan, where they enlisted in the
Texas army and immediately set out to join General Houston. Among them
were George W. Chapman, Heman Chapman, Robert Childers, Stephen Frazier,
William Frazier, John Needham, Jefferson Reed, William Reed, Josiah Taylor,
and Orville T. Tyler. When they arrived within one day's travel of the
San Jacinto battleground, however, they met soldiers who had participated
in General Sam Houston's decisive victory over the Mexicans and were returning
home in search of their fleeing families. Since the struggle was over,
the Tenoxtitlan volunteers returned with them. 50

Tenoxtitlan was proposed as capital of Texas a second time after the
area had become a republic and a committee had been appointed to select
a permanent site for the seat of government. At that time Robert Barr,
a former resident of Tenoxtitlan, laid before the commissioners a memorial
in which he extolled the advantages of that place: abundant springs, one
situated so that water from it could be piped directly to the capitol site;
plenty of timber, and an unlimited supply of firm building rock eight miles
above town, "with a surrounding country which cannot be surpassed for fertility
of product." If the commissioners would choose Tenoxtitlan, Barr said that
he would give the republic "one full half of the League of Land on which
said town is sit uated . . . and . . . two Leagues of Land lying on the
west side of the Brazos River at the mouth of Cow Bayou." As an added inducement,
he pointed out that there were six leagues of land adjoining the survey
on the north, and three on the south, all of which already belonged to
the Republic of Texas. 51

Unfortunately for Tenoxtitlan, though, the commissioners finally chose
a site near Waterloo (which developed into Austin), a still more exposed
and isolated village on the Colorado, and once again the citizens of Tenoxtitlan
saw their dream fade and die.

That blow, together with repeated raids by savage Indians, soon relegated
to oblivion the little frontier village of Tenoxtitlan. Troubles with Indians
had been steadily increasing ever since the departure of the Mexican garrison
in the summer of 1832. At that time the settlers were so disheartened that
they talked of abandoning the entire country above the Yegua, but they
finally reconsidered, resolved to stick to their hard-earned homes on the
Texas frontier, and organized an informal civil militia for protection.
52

Things moved along peacefully until one dark, foggy morning about daylight
in the latter part of April, 1834. Suddenly the residents of Tenoxtitlan
were awakened by the cry of "Indians! Indians! Indians!" Rushing out in
their night clothes, they found an excited crowd gathered around James
G. Swisher's horse lot near the center of town. There a sickening sight
awaited them: all the horses were gone except two, and one of these stood
trembling in a corner with an arrow sticking in his side. The other, Mrs.
Swisher's favorite, lay weltering in his blood, and large pieces of flesh
had been cut from his carcass.

Swisher and one of the Boren brothers immediately set out in pursuit.
They followed the Indians at a brisk pace on foot for two days, although
the Indians were mounted and Swisher was a big man weighing over two hundred
pounds. Swisher and Boren finally overtook the Indians on the second day
about fifty miles from Tenoxtitlan. They shot one Indian, sent the other
fleeing through the brush critically wounded, and recovered all the stolen
horses. 53

In the summer of 1835, Tenoxtitlan was the point of rendezvous for an
expedition which the western and central colonies of Texas sent out against
the Indians. The four small companies of Captains Robert M. Williamson,
John H. Moore, George W. Barnett, and Philip Coe assembled there in late
July, and on the 31St marched east to Fort Parker to relieve Captain Robert
M. Coleman. The expedition spent several weeks in the field and proved
to be such a successful show of strength that the Indians remained overawed
for some time. 54

The most sensational Indian raid that ever occurred in Tenoxtitlan,
however-- the one which no doubt terminated its existence as a Texas town_took
place in May, 1841. Most of the clothing worn by the Texas pioneers was
made at home on a hand loom, and the King family near Nashville was no
exception. Soon Mrs. King found that she needed another spinning wheel
to supply the ever-increasing needs of the large household of whites and
Negroes, but all the spinning wheels for that part of Texas were made by
Major Ben Bryant, a resident of Tenoxtitlan. Consequently young Rufus King
and "Uncle Jim," a faithful old Negro, were sent down river to Tenoxtitlan
to bring back a new spinning wheel.

They had instructions to spend the night with Joseph Rowland, a close
friend of the King family. Rowland, as was characteristic of many Texas
pioneers, had a large family. The four oldest children were girls, who
usually did the milking, but that night they had some special assistance.
Rufus went along with Bill and Burt, two of the Rowland boys, to tie off
the calves.

After they had returned to the house, the girls discovered that they
had left some of the milking gourds at the pen and asked the boys to go
back after them. It was getting dark rapidly as the boys slipped through
the tall weeds which bordered the narrow path. Just as they came in full
view of the fence, they saw that the cows were alarmed and looking steadily
at some objects in the pen. As Rufus and his companions drew nearer, they
saw two Indians busy skinning a calf, while a third Indian on the fence
kept guard.

The boys ran back to the house and spread the alarm. Horses were rounded
up and tied to two timber posts that supported a dirt-floored shed in front
of Rowland's double cabin.

When the family retired for the night, Rufus was given a primitive bed
outside the house under the shed_a framework against the wall of the house,
over which had been laid a beef hide, a comfort, and a sheet. Rufus slept
next to the wall, and a man named Campbell, who worked for Rowland, slept
on the outside next to the horses. Rowland was to stand guard until, midnight,
and then Campbell was to take over. A full moon was shining, the air was
soft and balmy, and at last, despite all the excitement, Rufus dropped
off to sleep, for it was long past the little boy's bedtime.

Suddenly he was awakened by a most bloodcurdling and harrowing scream
from his bedfellow. As he opened his eyes, he saw Campbell attempting to
rise, with an arrow shot clear through his body. He struggled toward the
door, dragging the sheet behind him, but, before he could get inside, fell
dead.

The noise of startled horses, their tramping feet and wild, scared snorting,
showed that the Indians were still nearby. Campbell had gone back to sleep
after going on guard duty, and the Indians had crept up to the posts, cut
the horses loose, and shot him as he attempted to rise.

There was no sleep in Tenoxtitlan during the remainder of that night,
but pursuit could not be attempted until morning. Meanwhile the dead man
was prepared for burial, powder horns were filled, bullets were molded,
and rations were cooked for the expedition.

Like every growing boy, Rufus wanted to go with the party, but Rowland
gave him positive instructions to return immediately to Nashville. Next
morning, therefore, Rufus and Uncle Jim started home with their spinning
wheel. Jim strapped the wheel on his back so that his arms would be free
to use his single-barreled flintlock shotgun in case of an Indian attack.
He put the bench across his lap so that he could throw it aside at a moment's
notice. Rufus carried the head, spindle, and smaller parts of the spinning
wheel. The flintlock holster pistol tied to the horn of his saddle seemed
to afford much less protection than it had on the way down to Tenoxtitlan.
They covered the fourteen miles of the return journey without mishap, although
they expected to be attacked by Indians every step of the way. And never
was a boy more relieved to see his mother than was little Rufus when Mrs.
King welcomed him home that day. 55

Two weeks after that raid, a little one-act play was published in a
Houston newspaper. The scene was laid at a ford on the Brazos, near Tenoxtitlan.
A traveler was standing on the opposite bank of the river, gazing intently
upon the ruined village. A hunter approached, and in the ensuing conversation
it was revealed that Tenoxtitlan had been deserted. One reason for its
abandonment was that the land titles in that area were still in dispute.
The other reason was that President Houston's Indian policy had left the
settlers at Tenoxtitlan completely unprotected. 56

So it was that Tenoxtitlan, first founded as a bulwark against Anglo-American
immigration, then converted into a shelter for those same immigrants, and
twice-told dream capital of Texas, passed into oblivion.

At present, the site is marked by a gray granite marker erected in 1936
by the Texas Centennial Commission, which bears the following inscription:

2000 FEET SOUTH
SITE OF FORT TENOXTITLAN ESTABLISHED BY THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT IN JULY,
1830, IN AN ATTEMPT TO STEM ANGLO-AMERICAN SETTLEMENT. NAMED IN HONOR OF
THE AZTEC CAPITOL, NOW MEXICO CITY. ABANDONED BY MEXICAN TROOPS IN 1832.
IN THE TOWN WHICH GREW UP AFTER 1834 MANY PROMINENT TEXANS LIVED. THE PLACE
PASSED FROM THE MAP AFTER 1860.57

The monument stands on land originally granted to the heirs of John Teal,
at the point where Dam Creek flows into the Brazos River. Northwest of
the monument, along Dam Creek, is the site of the Mexican settlement; just
south of the point where Dam Creek empties into the Brazos is the site
of the fort; and on the road off to the left, across a boggy creek, and
in heavy underbrush is the Mexican cemetery, where there are tumbled piles
of red brick and some traces of a wall or sides of graves. On the village
site there remain many pieces of pottery, mostly with flower designs, lead
rifle balls, and various kinds of bones.

The Burleson County Historical Survey Committee and the Caldwell Chamber
of Commerce presently hope to improve access to the site, create a picnic
area, and restore Fort Tenoxtitlan with the assistance of the county commissioners
and the state Parks and Wildlife Department.